Mile End Library now open 24/7!

From today, Monday 15th March 2010, the Mile End Library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

This means you can study and use Library resources round the clock as exams and end-of year deadlines approach.

The Library will be closed over the Easter weekend, from midnight on Thursday 1st April, until 8.30am on Tuesday 6th April 2010.

24/7 opening finishes at midnight on Friday 4th June 2010.

Literature search skills sessions at the Medical Libraries

Would you like some help with searching the medical literature online?

Whitechapel Library are holding drop-in sessions for anyone who wishes to improve their information skills.

EVERY WEDNESDAY, 2 pm to 4 pm at Whitechapel Medical Library

There will also be sessions at West Smithfield Medical Library on Thursday 25th of March and Thursday 22nd of April, from 2 pm until 4 pm.

These sessions will be open to all Queen Mary staff as well as NHS staff and all students in the healthcare professions.

The content will be dictated by your needs but could include:

• guidance on searching MedLine using PubMed
• tackling critical appraisal
• negotiating NHS evidence
• simplifying referencing using EndNote Web

We are looking forward to seeing you at one of these drop-in sessions soon!

Need help in the Mile End Library? Look out for the Roving Information Service!

Mile End Library is currently trialling a Roving Information Service. Experienced Help Point staff are roving all three floors of the library between 12 and 2pm, Monday to Friday, offering help and advice to all library users at the point of need.

Roving staff can be identified by their red library ID card and lanyard, and carry a clipboard with the Roving Information Service logo.

The roving staff can help with all kinds of problems, including

• IT and printing support and troubleshooting
• helping readers to use the Library catalogue and find books on the shelves
• assisting with self service
• advising on library facilities and lending policies

The Roving Information Service is currently being trialled until Easter.

New functionality in the sfx e-journals database

The Library is currently trialling the bX software. bX extends the functionality within the SFX e-journals database, adding an "Amazon-like" recommendation service. bX will recommend alternative journal articles to the currently viewed reference, based upon what other users have looked at whilst viewing the same article.

You can see an example of bX in action here

The bX recommendations will help researchers find relevant articles in their specified area, as well as providing links to similar articles which the Library can provide access to if we do not subscribe to the full-text of the particular journal article you are looking for.

All feedback is welcome. Please use the "Problems? Comments? bx feedback?" link on the SFX e-journals results page.

24/7 opening at Mile End Library coming soon!

24 hours a day, seven days a week access to the Mile End Library in the build-up to the exam period begins on the 15th March 2010.

24/7 opening begins at 8.30 am on Monday 15 March 2010 and ends at midnight on Friday 4 June 2010. However, please note that the Library will be shut for the Easter weekend from midnight on Thursday 1 April 2010, until 8.30am on Tuesday 6 April 2010.

Extra silent-study spaces in the Mile End Library

In response to user comments about the loss of silent study spaces on the second floor of the Mile End Library, Library Services are replacing the current study carrels and the map cabinets on the west side of the second floor of the Library (overlooking Library Square) with brand new units. These will have:

• four study bays instead of the three in the current carrels
• power sockets on the desks for laptops, etc.
• new, more comfortable chairs

This means that this study area will be unavailable while the current study carrels and the map cabinets are removed between Friday 19th and Sunday 21st February 2010, and the new furniture is installed on Monday 22nd February 2010. There will also be some noise and disruption on the second floor while the removal and installation take place, but we hope to keep this to a minimum.

At the end of this project there will be an additional 50 silent study spaces available on the west side of the second floor, and the map cabinets will have been moved to their new home near the video collection, also on the second floor.

Electronic resource free trial: Bibliography of British and Irish History

Queen Mary Library Services have a free 30 day trial to the Bibliography of British and Irish History. This provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and within the British Empire and Commonwealth, from 55BC to the present.

It is the successor to the Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History, which was freely available online from 2002 to 2009. It is now published by Brepols.

To use the trial go to: www.brepolis.net, choose Enter databases and then choose BBIH, which is the only available option.

New electronic resource: Nexis® UK

Queen Mary Library Services now has a subscription to Nexis® UK, a large database of global news, country and company information. This gives our users access to:

• All the main UK newspapers, hundreds of UK regional newspapers, over 2,000 global newspapers, 750 newswires and over 7,000 licensed newsletters, journals and industry titles
• Company information for over 100 million companies worldwide, including company profiles, structure, named executives, financial reports and addresses. Company information providers include ICC Financial and Extel.
• Countries and markets data, including the BBC monitoring reports.

The newspaper coverage includes, and extends, the UK newspaper coverage previously accessed through Proquest at Queen Mary. Note that a QMUL Athens login is required for off-campus access.

New electronic resource: Sage Premier

Queen Mary Library Services has subscribed to the Sage Premier electronic journal package for 2010. This gives us electronic access to over 550 journal titles from the publisher Sage in the fields of business, humanities, social sciences, science, technology and medicine. The subscription includes access to all issues of the included journal titles from 1999 onwards. The complete list of Sage Premier journals can be accessed via the Library’s sfx e-journals list.

Whitechapel Library opening late; reduced service at Mile End Library on Saturday 23rd January 2010

Whitechapel Library will open late on Saturday 23rd January 2010, at 2 pm (instead of 10 am).

Mile End Library will be open for self-service and reference only from 11 am. The Help Point will open at 1.30 pm.

This is to allow time for staff training in the morning. We regret any inconvenience caused.

Mile End Library opens 8:30 am on the term week days

In response to many requests, from the 11th January 2010 (the start of Semester 2), the Mile End Library will open half an hour earlier each weekday morning, at 8.30 am instead of 9.00 am. This means that users will be able to access Library facilities before 9 am lectures.

Snow day - library closes at 4pm

Today, the Mile End library will close at the earlier time of 4pm.

West Smithfield will close at 4pm.

Whitechapel will close at 5pm.

Mile End library and the medical libraries will be opening at the usual time tomorrow, depending on the weather conditions.

Please watch this space to find out about the changes to opening times tomorrow.

Early closure of Medical Libraries on Thursday 17th December 2009

Whitechapel and West Smithfield Libraries will close early, at 6pm, on Thursday 17th December 2009. Mile End Library will remain open until midnight as usual.

Extra silent-study spaces at Mile End Library coming soon

60 extra silent-study spaces will be installed on the second floor of the Mile End Library in the spring of 2010, before the beginning of the main exam revision period. These will be on the west side of the Library overlooking Library Square, where the map cabinets have been temporarily located since Summer 2009.

Earlier opening time for Mile End Library

In response to many requests, from the 11th January 2010 (the start of Semester 2), the Mile End Library will open half an hour earlier each weekday morning, at 8.30 am instead of 9.00 am. This means that users will be able to access Library facilities before 9 am lectures.
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Mile End Library Book sale

There will be a Book Sale in the Mile End Library on Wednesday 9th, Thursday 10th, Friday 11th, Monday 14 & Tuesday 15th December 2009, between 10am and 5pm.

"Take Flight" - Behind the Scenes Tours of the Archives

Take a flying visit through the fascinating collections in the Archives. To celebrate the opening of the new Caroline Skeel Archives Reading Room, the Archives will be running free Behind the Scenes Tours, for both staff and students, throughout November 2009.

There will be an opportunity to view the improved facilities for users and exclusive access will be granted to the secure vault where the collections are stored. The tour will also showcase some of the highlights from the Archives, featuring the eccentric, innovative and pioneering. Everything from ‘The Great Carles’, champion pigeon charmers, who delighted the People’s Palace with their performance in 1887, to the French student revolution of 1968.

The tours will be taking place on the following dates, November 9th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 30th. Tours will last 30 minutes and will take place between 12.30-2.30pm, exact time to be confirmed. To book a place on a tour or for more information email archives or telephone 020 7882 3873.

The Archives hold a wealth of fascinating institutional and personal archives, dating from the 18th Century to the present day. The collections document the rich history of the College, and provide vital evidence for research in the arts, humanities and social sciences and science and engineering. To find out more see the archive website.

Now open, Caroline Skeel Archives Reading Room

The Caroline Skeel Archives Reading Room opened on the 2nd Floor of the Main Library on 12th October 2009. It will provide easier access to invaluable historical collections.

The Archives chart the fascinating history of the College and also contain primary source material for subjects in the arts, humanities and social sciences, dating from the 18th century to present day.

The purpose built room is open Monday to Friday 9.30am-4.45pm and provides a dedicated space for users of the Archives. The room is supervised by specialist Archives staff, able to assist users to search the collections for relevant material.

Users will be permitted to order material on demand, up to 6 records at a time, for retrieval from the Archives storeroom. Copies of records are provided at reasonable rates, including photocopying and scanning services. Users are permitted to use their own digital cameras to take photographs of items from the collections, free of charge. Find out more here: www.library.qmul.ac.uk/archive/news.htm or visit the 2nd Floor and drop into the Caroline Skeel Archives Reading Room.

The room is named after Professor Caroline Skeel (1872–1951), who was a Lecturer in Classics and History at Westfield College. She was also responsible for the College library from 1902, attracting gifts from learned societies and others which substantially improved the collection.

For more information about the Archives collections or to make an enquiry see: www.library.qmul.ac.uk/archive email archives@qmul.ac.uk or telephone 020 7882 3873.

Did you know what happened on this day 127 years ago…?

Welcome to the new academic year! It is an exciting time of year for Queen Mary and the thousands of new students who will be settling in over the up and coming weeks. It is difficult to imagine the humble beginnings of one of Queen Mary’s predecessor colleges, Westfield College, which opened for the first time on this day 127 years ago, in Hampstead, North London…

Westfield College, one of the first ladies colleges in London, opened its doors on 2nd October 1882, welcoming just 5 students in total! The only teaching staff were the Mistress, Constance Louisa Maynard, and the Resident Lecturer, Katherine Tristram. The numbers gradually increased but it is quite a contrast to today where Queen Mary has a community of over 15,000 students and hundreds of lecturers!

Westfield College merged with Queen Mary in 1989 to form Queen Mary and Westfield College, better known today as Queen Mary, University of London. The Westfield Student Village at Mile End is one of the lasting legacies of Westfield College, making Queen Mary unique in being the only College of the University of London to have on-campus halls of residence. Meanwhile, the original site of Westfield in Hampstead, is now largely occupied by Kings College or has been converted to private flats.

To discover more about the fascinating history of Queen Mary visit the Archives website:
www.library.qmul.ac.uk/archive
or pop into the new Archives Reading Room located on the 2nd floor of the Main Library, due to open on 12th October.

Student volunteers required for web usability session, Monday 21st, free lunch and vouchers

The library is looking for returning undergraduate students who are interested in helping us to develop the user experience (UX) for our new online library catalogue interface, this Monday, 21st Sept. It will involve coming to an afternoon breakout session, in which we will be thinking through typical goal-based scenarios students have when using the catalogue. There are no prerequisites for this session and it will be of especial interest to students who are studying design / marketing / business / online systems / IT. Amazon vouchers, as well as a free lunch, will be given as a token of our appreciation for your valuable input to the library's user experience.

The session is being facilitated by Tony Rose, the UX Manager & Principal Consultant at Endeca. The new library catalogue will be implemented using the "Endeca enterprise search software".

If you would like to take part, please contact Damian Hippisley